Barton risks career with Twitter antics

On Monday, the French Football Federation’s ethical committee will come face-to-face with one Joseph Anthony Barton for the first time. If reading a list of prior misdemeanors forms any part of the procedure, every member will surely end up claiming overtime.

The comments for which Barton will almost certainly face sanction – labeling Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva an “overweight ladyboy” and “transsexual” on Twitter – have been greeted with a mixture of outrage and disgust by many in France. Sports daily L’Equipe ran the story on its front page, adorned with the headline “Is this the British sense of humor?”